I have been trying to get my head around how to use Web3 and this may become a series as make sense of each part. Hope it help someone else taking a look at web3.
This will list out the requirements to host a decentralized (Web3) website and the associated cost.
HOSTING
Integrated service - fleek.co
Fleek https://fleek.co/ is an integrated SaSS similar to Netlify that takes care of building the page from the code, uploading it to IPFS, and tying a regular DNS and ENS, as well as SSL certificates.
PRICING - https://fleek.co/pricing/
The Basic plan ($0) should be more than enough for most static sites. 3GB/Month
Non-Integrated
It is possible to use a service like Pinata https://www.pinata.cloud/ to upload compiled site to IPFS and then use Cloudflare's IPFS gateway to provide the gateway and domain hosting services.
NOTES
While it is technically possible to create our own IPFS node and gateway since the code is open source. It is not recommended since there are other parts to hosting these nodes safely and securely that would add a lot more overhead cost than any tangible benefits.
DOMAIN
In the same way that normal URLs have registrars, there are registrars for domains on the blockchain.
.eth names are available and can be used to point to multiple things such as wallets, NFTs, IPFS files (websites)
You can buy any name for the following price plus the gas fee.
5+ character .eth names: $5 in ETH per year.
4 character .eth names: $160 in ETH per year.
3 character .eth names $640 in ETH per year.
However, if you have a normal URL that supports DNSSEC they can be registered for only the gas fee.
The fee is meant to prevent domain squatting.
GLOSSARY:
IPFS: Inter-Planetary File System (https://ipfs.io/). This is the immutable decentralized network that is used to host files for Web3 applications. Once a file is uploaded to IPFS it has a Unique identifier for file retrieval.
Gateway: Server that provides a connection between the regular internet and IPFS. Allowing the viewing of IPFS from any browser.
ENS: Ethereum Name Service (https://ens.domains/). This is the blockchain equivalent of a URL. It can be used to point to wallets or IPFS files.
Gas: Gwei. A gas fee refers to the fee required to successfully conduct a transaction on the Ethereum blockchain. Gas fees are paid in Ethereum's native currency Ether (ETH) and denominated in gwei.
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